Just spent 3 days in japan working with some dreamliner team members and they were looking very stressed out indeed . Major issue is the relation between speed of production and getting Quality control , minimize the need for inspecting and re-working on large components . Simply put they need to quickly ramp up aswell as get consistent interms of Quality unit after unit. Not a lot different from other development projects but given the challenging production schedule its giving a lot of sleapless nights to a lot of partners . Boeing has had about 40 day buffer from around the mid to end of august , so as long they get the testing well under way by end of sept they will get enough for certfication given that there are no MAJOR hickups . Also Mcnermy stressed the time and effort required to get systems installed , this is always challenging and granted that the odds of boeing finding out that the wires dont connect etc are remote but the smaller issues also take up a lot of time and effort. Some partners have asked for more time before they are asked to deliver components pre stuffed and ready to install , while others are working things out on schedule . Software still remains a challenging as with all modern aviaiton program. All in all a very important time for the 787 program , years of sweat , effort and man hours have brought them this far but now it is a race against time , the schedule has always been demanding and i wouldnt be too surprised if things slip a month or 2 with the first flight however what is more worrying as of now is the ramp up which is too follow immediately ie. going from 1 a month currently to greater then that once the 6-7 aircraft is done !!